


How To Try And Fix The Whole World

by slimecrime



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, Starts literally right when the movie ends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:54:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23102797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slimecrime/pseuds/slimecrime
Summary: The world might be done burning, but it's still on fire, even though we're all really tired.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 1
Kudos: 41





	How To Try And Fix The Whole World

**Author's Note:**

> I know there's a bunch of fics like this already and I already wrote one but we're out here man. Maybe this goes with the fics I've already written, maybe it doesn't. I don't know. Don't expect me to know this shit.

“You really are an idiot.”

“Yeah! The world’s #1 firefighting idiot!”

For the moment, they were both unkillable, unstoppable. Right now, in the blazing sun, they were completely and utterly immortal. Lio’s body was solid iron, his eyes could see forever. Of course, what lay before him to see was nothing but endless destruction in need of cleaning. 

But it didn’t matter. They could clean it up. Of course they could do it. They could do anything. They could fix anything. What the fuck was going to stop them? They’d just set the world on fire. 

Lio had broken out of prison. He’d built a burnish settlement, he’d- He’d watched a lot of people get brutalized by the Freeze Force. He’d watched his friends get beaten. He’d been frozen completely solid. He’d then stayed completely frozen for a week straight. He’d… He’d lost his mind and nearly destroyed the city. He’d powered a mech and fought for his life and the lives of every burnish out there and then he’d been forced to be a conduit to all of their rage to power open a warp gate and his body had dissolved and-

And…

It was amazing how quickly, in that moment, the adrenaline wore off. He had felt so infinite. He was sure he could never possibly feel weak again. It was easy to imagine that he was going to feel strong forever and ever. There was no thing, living or dead, that could put an end to him!

And then suddenly he threw up.

And then he might have said “Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” before completely blacking out where he stood.

\------

Lio wakes up under a blanket in a bed in the back of a Burning Rescue truck, feeling freezing cold. It's dark and he doesn't know where the truck is going. He just knows that it's moving. 

It's hard to parse what exactly he's looking at, though. It's all just abstract shapes and shadows in the dark. A few things rattle around. There are some blinking lights and some shiny surfaces that look like screens. 

He wants to sit up and look at who is driving, but his muscles just don't agree. All he can do is shake. He's shivering, he realizes. His teeth are gritted and almost chattering. It was such a weird feeling. It was something he had felt before, of course.

It wasn’t the same as being frozen solid. It was more like…

It was like before he had become a burnish. It was like when he was 7, and outside without a jacket in November. 

It was like when he had parents who loved him.

He had to get up. He's determined. He gets his arms under his chest and pushes with his quaking limbs. Then the truck jerks just right and he tumbles onto the floor. He is now no longer even in the comfort of the blanket.

His naked arms and chest are exposed to air that feels like it has to be below freezing. The dirty rubber mats and metal floor are icy cold too. He can barely summon the strength to move again. All he can do is groan as the truck’s movements jostle him back and forth.

“Lio?” He hears a familiar whisper. 

He can't really look up from where he is. He doesn't have the strength to lift his head. He hears some movement, sees some shadows and blurs. Hears a few footsteps echoing on the metal. Then he feels some warm hands underneath him and suddenly he's being lifted into the air.

He can feel the heat of someone’s body against him and he never wants it to leave.

Unfortunately, he is placed back down on the cold mattress, and covered with a useless blanket. He can feel the weight of someone sitting with him, though. He can feel their warmth against his leg.

“Galo?” he forces from his throat.

He feels the truck suddenly slow to a halt. 

“Just hang in there,” Galo says. His voice is low and groggy. He claps a hand on his shoulder, and it's so warm. He doesn't want him to ever move it again. “Just hang in there…”

There is a rattling noise and doors slamming open and shut and some footsteps. 

“Galo! What are you doing up!?” 

“Lio fell over,” he mumbles.

Then the conversation goes under water, as unconsciousness takes him back into blackness. 

\----

The next time he wakes up, the inside of the truck is much brighter. There’s one door open, and the sun is shining in. He is also under a mountain of blankets. And still a little cold.

His eyes feel sticky and almost swollen when he opens them. He can hear a ton of chatter outside of the truck. The most familiar voice is Galo’s. 

“Okay, I’ll go check- I said, I’ll check on him,” he hears a high voice say.

From his position under the heap of blankets, Lio can only see the outline of one of the members of burning rescue. The girl with the blonde and pink pigtails in the lab coat. He hasn’t been formally introduced to any of them.

“Hellooooo,” she beams. “You’re finally awake!”

Lio blinks. His eyes feel puffy.

“He’s finally awake!” she calls out the truck.

Lio’s brain can’t and doesn’t process the next few seconds. He hears his name over and over. There’s a bunch of people in the truck that he doesn’t know. He can barely see their faces. He sinks further into the blankets.

“Hey, hey! Don’t overwhelm him, come on! Come on, shoo! Shoo!”

There’s a very large man with a blonde mustache and a burning rescue coat coaxing people out of the truck. 

“Come on! Get out of here!” 

Slowly the crowd disperses, and someone else is able to push through.

“Lio!” he hears again. This time from a voice he recognizes. As happy as he is to hear it, his voice is a little loud on his eardrums. 

He stands over him, smiling with his mouth but with worry in his eyes.

“Galo,” he responds quietly. 

He’s the only person left in the truck, though Lio is aware of the other man with the mustache standing just outside the doors.

Galo sits down on his knees so that he is at his eye level. 

“It’s good to see you’re awake,” he says. 

Lio doesn’t say anything. He’s just cold, and he remembers Galo holding him. He can’t stop himself from quietly wishing he would hold him again. He was so warm… There’s no way he could ask for that, though. He isn’t sure what their boundaries are.

On the one hand, they’d fought together and saved each other and practically merged their souls and Galo had saved him and-

And on the other hand, Galo wasn’t someone he had known for very long. He was someone he’d really just met, and had been enemies with up until a few days ago. But he wanted him to hold him, so so achingly badly. His brain wasn’t even giving him a choice in the matter. He just wanted it desperately. It was incredibly annoying.

“You can go back to sleep if you want,” Galo offers. 

“That’s okay. How long have I been asleep?” Lio says. His voice is incredibly low and raspy.

“On and off for the past week. I don’t know if you remember when you’ve been awake, though,” he says. “You really ‘burnt’ yourself out.”

Galo laughs at his own joke.

Lio smiles. God, _a week,_ though? 

“It’s freezing. Why is it so freezing?” Lio asks.

“Hmm. It’s just you, man. It’s summer out here,” Galo says. “It’s approaching pool weather.” 

Lio grunts. 

“The other burnish are having the same thing,” he says. “There’s probably going to be a period of adjustment. It’s not deadly or anything, though. You’re not actually as cold as you think you are.” 

Oh, of course. 

“Or, well. It’s not deadly on its own. If you overheat without realizing it, because you think you’re colder than you are, then it’s a problem,” he says. “That’s been a major thing we’ve had to deal with…” 

Lio tries to sit up. 

“I should be helping them, then,” he says. “I want to help out if everyone’s like this.”

“Ah-” Galo puts a hand on his shoulder again, settling him back. “Just, slow down, okay? There’s plenty of help for you to do, but not until you’re okay.” 

“When will I be okay?” Lio asks.

“I don’t know,” says Galo. “Whenever you’re, like, not fucked up. Anymore.”

He wants to kiss him. He wants to kiss him and he wants him to hold him tight against his warm chest. He hates it. He hates it. What the fuck is this- Could he just ask him to- NO!

Lio closes his eyes and groans.

“What’s wrong?” Galo asks, urgently.

Oh god, that just makes his heart flutter. Nice going.

“Nothing,” he smiles. “I’m fine.” 

Galo sighs and leans more against the metal beneath his cot. He could just ask him. He could. He’s barely awake anyway. This could all be a dream. Who knows? Who knows what’s going to happen? He could just ask. 

What if it ruins everything? What if you can never look him in the eye again?

But what if this is a dream? And what if he never wakes up?

“Hey, um,” he says quietly. 

He reaches one hand, tentatively, out from under the safety of the blankets. The air feels so icy on his skin, and his fingers look even paler and thinner than he remembers. His heart brims with excitement as he delicately touches the side of Galo’s face. He feels so warm…

Galo’s eyes are wide. He visibly swallows. 

“Thank you,” Lio says quickly, changing his mind. “For saving me.”

He pulls his hand away.

Galo nods and smiles. His brow creases. His eyes are so blue and bright. 

“No problem,” he says. “It’s my job to save people.”

That’s right. It’s his job to save people.

Maybe this is wrong, and not fair, and not right. Maybe this is a dream, though. Maybe this is his last chance. Maybe he shouldn’t. Maybe he’s too tired for this. Maybe he’s too tired to care.

“I wish you would kiss me again,” he says out loud.

Wait, that wasn’t what he wanted to ask! He just wanted him to maybe hug him or something- Wait why the fuck-

Galo swallows again and his eyes are wide and he looks off in another direction. 

“Sorry,” Lio says quickly, his stomach churning. His whole world is suddenly spinning. This isn’t a dream. He shouldn’t have said that. How does he take it back!

Galo looks over his shoulder at the Burning Rescue member guarding the door.

“I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry,” Lio insists.

Galo turns back to him and leans in a little closer.

“Can I kiss you again?” he whispers. “N-not that we kissed before. It was just CPR. Of course. But- Wait…”

Electricity shocks through Lio’s veins, vibrating out from his chest. Galo stammers some more, growing quieter and quieter. Eventually he takes a deep breath and cools himself off.

“I would love to kiss you,” he says, in the softest whisper. 

Lio brushes his face with his hand again, taking his jaw in weak fingers. Galo leans in closer, and presses his lips into his. He holds for just a moment, just long enough for Lio to feel the warmth and taste of his breath and the softness of his skin. 

Then he pulls away. 

They take a moment just to stare at each other.

“I hope I can kiss you more often,” Galo says quietly.

Lio smiles tiredly. 

“I hope so too.”  
\---

Around an hour later, they’ve found Lio fresh sweatpants and a t-shirt. His hair is tied back in a bandana. Galo had gone to look for a jacket or sweatshirt for him, since he was still involuntarily shivering in spite of the heat. 

He sits behind a long strip of tables under some tents in the huge sprawling camp that was set up for everyone that had been displaced. (And that was most people) The tables were covered in tin foil trays and food that volunteers had helped cook. 

He’d been gifted a little bowl of rice and chicken and vegetables along with a bottle of water. 

“Where’d all the food come from?” he asked.

“There’s underground stores,” the Burning Rescue member tells him. He has short teal hair and glasses and introduced himself as Remi. “In the same bunkers everyone was evacuated into. The supplies are pretty limited, though.”

Lio takes another bite while Remi serves a growing queue. 

“Are people still underground?” 

“Some of them are. Most of this settlement is ex-burnish, though, since they weren’t exactly included in the evacuation protocol.” 

“There had to have been food on that stupid ship,” Lio says. “What about that?”

“We’re already working on asking for that,” he says.

Lio huffs a little. “I’d be willing to talk to them myself if you aren’t able to convince them,” he says.

Someone in the meal line catches a glance of Lio, but doesn’t say anything. Their eyes widen at him for a split second before they turn away. They’re not the first or last to do this. Just about everyone who catches a glimpse of him sitting on the ground reacts a little.

“Lio Fotia?” someone finally says out loud. 

The person they’re with whispers something to them, shoving them along the line. 

“Sorry-”

But that doesn’t stop several more people in line from whispering his name.

“What, is he out here?” 

“Lio’s here?”

“I thought he died.”

“No he didn’t stupid!”

“Oh, it is Lio Fotia.”

“Oh you’re right, it’s Lio.”

“Dude, it’s Lio.”

It repeats itself enough that Lio feels like he’s holding up the operation by being out here, especially when he isn’t even helping serve food. 

Just as he’s finishing his meal, though, Galo returns through the back of the tent.

“Here, I got you one of our jackets,” he says. “I couldn’t find anything else.”

He hands him a plastic bag with a bright orange windbreaker, as well as two boxes of gloves and masks. 

“The other stuff is to share, but you can have the jacket,” he explains.

Lio is a little hesitant about the jacket. He knows that Burning Rescue is apparently very well established here, and clearly doing everything they can to help with the ex-burnish refuges, but he still feels like it might… upset certain people, if he personally were to wear this jacket in public. 

Of course, he plans to cooperate with Burning Rescue for now, as they seem to be cooperating with the ex-burnish, but it still feels a little symbolically weighted. He’s even been a little unsure how appropriate it is for the Burning Rescue members to be wearing their own jackets right now, right here, in complete control of the resources in a camp full of displaced burnish.

He will have to talk to them about that.

“Thank you,” he says anyway. 

He puts the bag aside, and puts on gloves and a mask in preparation to help finish serving dinner. He is still very cold, but he will just have to try to ignore it. 

“You’re not going to wear it?”

Lio smiles at him as best as he can.

“You said it yourself, it’s hot and I could overheat without realizing it,” he lies. “I’ll be fine.”

With the combination of the mask and his hair being pushed out of his face, (and honestly a huge mess) Lio isn’t quite as immediately recognizable. Some people still notice him and whisper his name, but he’s able to largely get his job done without holding up the line. 

There’s a few instances, though, where someone insists on thanking him, or demands some kind of help or explaination, or wants him to go with them, to go see their sister, or they’re just overwhelmed. A particularly large man is so overjoyed to see him that he starts crying and hugging him over the counter. 

This prompts a few others to shove in to line to get a closer look at him, or to do the same. After three people try to touch him in one way or another, though, he starts to accept that this is a problem. The crowd is becoming extremely dense, and a little loud, and they’re really disrupting the process.

He would love to back away, go back to the truck he’d been sleeping in, but he knows he can’t do that. He knows people would be upset.

He decides to slip under the table, and walk out away from the food and into the larger area between the long lines of tents. His only goal is to get them away from the main operation so that everyone can be fed.

Lio is quickly surrounded, alone, by a huge crowd. Some of them don’t even seem to know what the crowd is for, and are just pushing through to find out. Most of them, though, are thanking him, hugging him, and at least a few people kiss him. He pretty quickly starts to feel like he might pass out. 

Not everyone is happy with him, though, or thankful. There’s more than a few who are very, very upset with him.

“Why did you take the flames away?”

“Are you working with Freeze Force now?” 

“I thought you wanted to save us, not cure us!”

And more than a few people are upset at those accusations, and soon there are arguments and shouting and more crying and eventually, there’s a physical fight as someone tackles another person to the ground right in front of his feet. 

Without thinking, Lio pulls one of individuals off of the other and stands firmly between them.

Then he hears more than one member of Burning Rescue make everything worse, by yelling to disperse, to leave him alone, to quiet down. 

“It’s okay,” Lio calls to them. “It’s okay, I can handle it.” 

But it doesn’t matter, because everyone is already upset, and now they’re scared too, completely untrustworthy of people in bright red jackets yelling at them to be quiet or else. 

He turns to one of the ex-burnish who had accused him of being a traitor to his people.

“I can talk to you privately,” he offers. “Please don’t fight right now. Most everyone here is just trying to eat.”

“Anyone who would like to ask me anything can come with me somewhere else,” he yells more loudly. He definitely doesn’t have the energy to do this, but he doesn’t feel like he has a choice. 

“Please, I promise I’m available to listen to you,” he lies. 

\----

They find an empty tent large enough for a small crowd. Lio requests Galo not go with him, despite his insistence, and instead to find Meis and Gueira. Neither of them know how long that will take, and Galo is extremely reluctant to do as he asks and leave him alone in a room full of people who seem like they want to eat him.

However, he does do what he says, and leaves him to go find them.

At first, once the tent is established as a meeting place, and everyone is sitting on the ground in a circle, things seem to be a little more civil. However, the crowd is growing, and not everyone sits down, or can even fit inside the tent.

“Are you working with Burning Rescue?” 

“For the moment, we’re going to have to cooperate with them, but I trust them to listen to me.”

“When is there going to be more permanent housing?”

“I don’t know. I’ve only been awake for about an hour.”

“Where have you been? Have you actually been sick?”

“I’ve been asleep. I’m sorry.”

“Stop accusing him of lying to you guys! He saved your lives you ungrateful-”

“Please, please. No arguing. We’re all working together on this. Please respect this space.”

“Will our flames ever come back?”

“I don’t know. Probably not.”

“Why is it so fucking cold in July?”

“It’s just an illusion. You’re going to be okay.”

“Can you get us more blankets?”

“I can try.”

“My sister is sick-”

“I wanted to ask you-”

“Can you please-”

“Why don’t you-”

“Boss!”

Gueira and Meis push through the dense crowd, most of them now standing, despite Lio and the original few people still sitting on the ground. For a moment, there is silence as people let them through, recognizing them as well. 

“It’s those guys-”

“Do you think Lio is a traitor?”

“Are you traitors too?”

“Are you still working with Lio even though he’s a traitor?”

Reluctantly, crowd members let the two through. Gueira squeezes in to sit down next to him and wraps his arms around him in a hug. Meis piles onto him next. They both feel warm against him, though the heat of the dense crowd is already enough to keep out much of the chill in his blood. 

“We knew you would be okay,” Gueira insists. They let him out of the hug, but keep their arms around him. 

Gueira’s hair is messier than usual, and Meis’ is tied up in a bun. Both of them are just in sweatshirts and sweatpants. 

“He was scared shitless,” Meis laughs.

“I was not! There’s no way Lio was going to just die on us.”

Lio smiles, feeling less vulnerable with their arms at his back. He momentarily feels more energized to continue the conversation. 

“You’re all too close to us,” Gueira reminds the crowd, projecting his voice with his hand cupped around his mouth. “Back up a little. Everyone in the tent, back up. All the way. Every single person, two steps back! Thank you!”

Everyone does their best to comply, though it doesn’t do as much as anyone would like. Meis hands Lio a bottle of water and the questions and demands begin to flow again. 

It’s an exhausting cycle, and soon every question starts to repeat as no answer is seemingly satisfactory. Meis and Gueira have to take to reminding the crowd when a question has been repeated. Lio’s voice quickly grows hoarse. 

The only positive change he notices as the hours drag on is that more and more people seem to get bored and leave. Of course, that just lets new people in to ask their same questions

“I understand you’re all very scared,” Lio says for the 13th time today. “I know it’s alarming to be powerless in the presence of so many Burning Rescue members. I know this is all a very frightening and uncertain time, but I am not going to let any of them hurt you. 

I and any other remaining members of Mad Burnish, as well as any other groups who would like to be involved, are going to meet with them, and we are going to sort this out.”

The crowd keeps shifting in tone, going from fear, to anger, to absolute adoration. There are several instances where he is again overwhelmed by people just trying to thank him and tell them they absolutely love him and stand by him, usually in response to those who are now wary of him, who are responding to the people who adore him, who are responding to-

Once the afternoon light turns an evening pink, though, he has to call it quits, no matter what. He has a headache that he’s pretty sure can’t get any worse. 

“I have to go lie down,” he whispers into Meis ear. His voice shakes so much more than he thought it would. 

He nods. 

“Alright, we’re going to conclude this meeting now!” Meis announces. “Everyone please get the fuck out of this tent!”

“That was horrible,” Lio winces at the tone Meis takes.

But they continue to do their job of yelling and dispersing the crowd and guarding Lio. Other members of the crowd, who are both sympathetic and boisterous enough, join in to help get everyone out of the tent.

A few lingering questions are still thrown at him as the crowd starts to dissolve. Lio can’t even answer them properly because his voice is nearly gone. 

It takes almost an hour to get everyone to leave, just due to the volume of people and the reluctance of so many who didn’t get to talk to him. 

Gueira and Meis then make quick work of shoving Lio out the back of the tent and disappearing with him off to their own sleeping arrangements. 

All three of them lie down in their very cramped tent. 

“That was awful,” Gueira gasps. 

“That was the most exhausting shit I’ve ever seen,” Meis says. 

Lio is lying on his back between them with his eyes closed.

“We’re going to have to do that at least a dozen more times,” he says. “And at least a few times just with Burning Rescue.”

The other two groan. 

“Have you eaten anything? When did you wake up? That guy with the blue hair said you woke up at around noon today,” Meis asks.

“I had some rice earlier,” Lio says. “And yeah, that’s about how long I’ve been awake.”

“Here, eat this at least,” Gueira says, tossing a granola bar onto his chest. 

Lio sits up on his arms just enough to unwrap it before lying back down. He takes a bite and it’s incredibly dry and horrible.

“We’re glad you’re okay, though, Boss,” Gueira says. “Lio…” he amends, softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

Lio smiles. 

“Do you know how the rebuilding is going? It sounds like there are already new buildings,” Lio asks.

“Yeah, they’ve got fucking, I don’t know, robots that make buildings or whatever,” Gueira says.

“They’re using the technology they had developed to terraform a new planet,” Meis explains. “It’s working out pretty quickly.” 

“Okay,” Lio says. “Why are the Burnish in tents, then?”

“Lio, I know you care, and we’re all pissed and tired, but we’ve been doing this for hours,” Gueira tells him.

“Come on,” Meis says. “You can rest for just a minute. I know you don’t want me to say this, but you’re only twenty-three. I respect the shit out of you, but you’ve already done more than your fair share for everyone.” 

“No matter how much we do, though, it still never seems to be enough,” he says.

They both sigh. 

They lie in the tent in silence, letting the light grow dark and the air grow even colder. 

“That beefy rescue guy likes you a whole lot,” Guiera laughs. “Actually, we told him we’d take you back to him after all that was over. Whoops.” 

“Oops.”

“Oh,” Lio says. “What did he say?”

“I don’t know, he was just really adamant that we make sure nothing happens to you and to make sure you got to eat and stuff,” Meis says. “He seems like he doesn’t really get what’s going on.”

Lio laughs. 

“Yeah, he’s not the smartest, but he manages somehow,” he says, smiling. 

“His name’s Galo Thymos, right? He’s the other guy everyone won’t shut up about,” Gueira says. “The burnish aren’t as obsessed with him as they are with you, but they trust him more than the other Burning Rescue members.”

“Yeah. That guy,” Lio says. “I should probably go back and visit him.” 

The adrenaline, if there was any at all, is starting to wear off yet again. His body feels like a flood. He doesn’t think he can move. He hasn’t finished the granola bar and he’s not sure he has the energy to. What the hell is wrong with him? 

Of course there’s also still the fact that he’s cold, but he’s getting used to it. That doesn’t make it good or comfortable, more so that he is capable of ignoring it. However, as it slowly becomes night, the air is growing genuinely cool, and there’s only so much willpower he can summon. 

“Well, you can stay here if you’re too tired,” Meis says. “Or we can walk you back over to the trucks.”

Lio doesn’t particularly want to sleep anymore, considering how much of that he’s already done, but his body isn’t really interested in much else, it seems. 

He really is just cold, tired, and hungry, and not a lot else. 

“I miss hanging out with you guys anyway,” Lio decides. 

“I missed the fuck out of you too, man,” Gueira says. “And~, we’ve got this if you want it.” 

Gueira digs around in the piles of bags and cardboard boxes.

“Oh, and this too,” he says, apparently not finding what he wanted. 

First, he pulls out a spare hoodie and tosses it onto Lio’s face. 

“But more importantly, this~”

Lio heaves himself up and pulls the hoodie over his head just in time to see Gueira pull up a six-pack from the deepest depths of their stash. 

“Extremely rare. Stolen directly from Freeze Force,” Gueira says, opening the first can for himself and passing the rest to Lio.

“Freeze Force still exists? And they’re close enough that you could steal from them?” Lio says, suddenly much angrier than he was before.

“Freeze Force has decided they still exist,” Meis clarifies. “I don’t know if anyone really wants them to. But yeah. They show up to “help” sometimes.” 

Lio snaps open his drink and passes the rest to Meis. 

“What kind of shitty help?” Lio asks, taking a sip of beer. 

“The shitty kind.” Meis tells him.

“The stupid useless annoying kind,” Gueira adds.

“The kind where Burning Rescue has to go argue with them, and you know that never works out,” Meis explains further, opening his own drink.

“And you thought it was a good idea to steal from them?” Lio asks.

“It’s only fair. They steal from us all the time,” says Gueira. “Plus they’ve got all the good shit.” 

“They’ve been pretty much declawed too,” Meis says. “Just bigoted meatheads with a complex at this point…” 

Lio hums, or maybe it’s more like a groan, or a sigh. Either way, he’s angry.

“We don’t even have fire to defend ourselves anymore,” he says.

“Nope!” Gueira says, laughing angrily. 

“We’ve been doing our best, though,” Meis says. “We might not have our flames but that doesn’t mean we have to lie down and take it.” 

Lio leans on his hand and sighs even harder. 

Meis takes a sip of his own beer and pats Lio on the shoulder.

“Maybe it’s time to stop asking questions and just rest,” he says. “I’m exhausted just from watching all that shit today and I didn’t even have to be you for this whole fucked up week.” 

“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” Lio finally agrees. 

“Oh, yeah? Hear that, Meis? Maybe we’re right,” Guiera claps his other shoulder and laughs.

“Oh, fuck, did I hear that right?” Meis says, acting shocked. “Lio Fotia, could be tired?” 

“Shut up,” he snorts.

“Did you see that old lady kiss him square on the lips earlier?” Gueira practically hollers. 

“Yeah, I definitely was there for that,” Meis chokes. 

“I can’t fucking deal with this forever, dude,” Gueira says. “I mean, I will, because I’m your friend and I care about you, but I’ve seen you get shit wasted and piss in a bush a few too many times to not think it’s a little funny. I’m sorry, alright?”

The three of them laugh together, and spend the next hour in the cramped little tent trying not to wish too hard that they had more to drink. Lio falls asleep long before the other two, and is out so hard he isn’t disturbed by their continued chatter. He’s just glad they’re okay, and that they seem to be enjoying themselves.


End file.
